Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Category Archives: fun stuff


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If it's Saturday it must be AGILITY!

Katie and I got to go to agility this morning. We haven’t been to any doggie school in over a month and she’s a bit bonkers. She went to the groomer this week, which she doesn’t like at all, so this morning when I had her leash and was headed for the door to the garage she went and hid behind the sofa. I told her we were going to school, which generally elicits happy dancing, but she wasn’t believing it this morning. So I dragged her off to the back of the car, and she shook in her kennel back there for the first few miles, with me reassuring her that it really was a school day.

Once we arrived and she realized there were no blow dryers or bathtubs she was all excited.  She said hello to a few of her friends but mostly she wanted to GO GO GO!  Hurry up Mom!  This week the instructors set up three groups of obstacles, and the five of us in class ran our dogs through sequences of three  things, over and over.  The first set was chute, tire, jump.  Since Katie is still new (this is only her 4th class) the instructor held up the end of the chute so Katie could see, and she ran right through every time.  She balked at the tire somewhat, wasn’t sure where she was supposed to go and tried to go under it and around it.  But eventually we got her to jump through it.  The subsequent times she went through the tire pretty well.  And she loves to jump, so jump was no issue.  By the fourth run through she was getting everything right as long as the chute was held open.

The second set of obstacles was jump, tunnel and A-frame.  But we were going the other direction, with the dog on our right.  BOY!   That’s hard for Katie and for me!  She’s just had almost a solid year of obedience always on my left and that’s where she wanted to be.  I wasn’t the only one having issues.  So we stopped and all practiced heeling with the dog on our right for awhile.  That’s something I’ll have to practice.  Katie too.  Anyway, eventually we went back to the obstacles and did the jump, tunnel, frame, and Katie flew through all those, even the A-frame!  YEA!

The third set was hardest.  It was teeter, weaves, and table.    Katie wasn’t afraid of the teeter this week, the instructor held it so it landed gently, but we were useless at weaves.  I need to get some weave poles so we can practice.  She did these much better last class than we did today.  The table was fun for her, so not a problem.

Finally the instructor put all 9 obstecles together and we got to run it twice.  Katie did REALLY well the second time, except for the weaves she did everything (with a little help with the chute and the teeter).  She had so much fun!  I was working up a sweat, but she could have (and would have) run all afternoon.

I wonder if we should just build some weave poles out of pvc, or buy some.  Anyone have a source they use to buy stuff like this?

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Winter day with a sheltie

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Blue sky like we haven’t seen in a long while. Fresh snow on the ground from the night before. Sunshine.

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Katie and I spent a good amount of time outside exploring.  She loves the snow, and I do too, when I’m wearing my heavy coat and boots.  Here we are, me trying to get her to look at me, and her being…well…her.

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After awhile, with me calling her and asking her to sit…she did.

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We had lots of fun playng in the snow.  I saw this tree with it’s great shadow; looked perfect to try a water color painting technique.  So I took the picture and hope someday I’ll make the time to try to paint it.

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We spent a lot of time outdoors before I had to get ready to go to work.  Katie was ready for me to go to work too.  She needed a nap.

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Well…she’s trying to sleep, if Mom would stop taking those blasted pictures!

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It was a good day.

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Maybe Agility?

katie-1119 My schedule at work got radically changed yesterday. For the next 3 weeks anyway. So now the 4 week agility class that starts next Sat. might just be a possibility. I think I am free at least 3 of the 4 mornings, just need to wait for a confirmation email this morning, and hope that week 4 is OK too.

Last night, going to bed way after midnight I asked Katie if she wanted to go back to school. Her eyes lit up and she started bounding all over the bed, leaping on me along the way. She was so happy and ready to go RIGHT NOW! I laughed and told her it wasn’t time yet and eventually she settled down to a restless sleep.

Silly me, I KNOW she’s going to react like that, why would I ask her at midnight? But it was fun to see her react. She hasn’t been to school for a couple of weeks and she misses it. I hope we get to go to this next class.

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Wicked – it's more than just a musical

My husband, aunt and I saw the musical Wicked this afternoon in Detroit. It was visually beautiful, musically delightful, and, if you let it, thought provoking. It’s the story behind the Wicked Witch of the West, the one who tormented Dorothy and her little dog Toto, and who frightened me when I was a kid watching the movie.

As the story goes, the Wicked Witch wasn’t so wicked growing up, but because of the way she looked (green) she was talked about and teased. She inherited some magical powers, and was used by influential people for their own gain, and that made her angry. Eventually these influential people spread rumors about her wickedness to cover up their own misuse of power.

The underlying theme is that we aren’t always told the whole story yet we regularly make assumptions and decisions based on things we’ve heard that may or may not be true. I couldn’t help but think of the parallels between this story and our political history these past 8 years.   I don’t think the musical meant to be political, but that was one of my takes on it.

Either way, political or not, it’s a great show, and if you ever get a chance to see it…do.  It would be wicked to miss it!


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Let it snow!

Katie is having the best time playing in the snow.  Even though it is now almost as high as her shoulders…katie-10762

and her Dad has to make her a path so that she can get her jobs done.

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But mostly she loves to run and jump in the deep snow of the back yard…

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especially under the pine trees.

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When she comes back inside she looks like this:

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But now that she’s cleaned up she says “HAPPY HOLIDAYS! to all of you!”  We hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday with those you love.

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Living with a crazy princess

So Katie has become even more crazy.  She has started to ask to go outside constantly, last night in the driving rain turned to sleet over and over again out we went.  Each time I was thinking that her incessent whining and barking at me must mean she has to go out “RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE AND CAN’T HOLD IT A SECOND LONGER!”  But when we get out there (I don’t have a fenced yard so we have to go out together) we end up wandering around the yard sniffing stuff.  She seems especially interested in the #2 deposits of previous trips.  So I am constantly saying “NO!” and pulling her away.  This is new behavior for her, and it’s wearing on me.  This morning after being outside in the freezing cold four times in a couple of hours, with no apparent reason I left her with my husband for the day and went shopping!  When I got home he said “She’s crazy!”  We can’t decide if it’s a reaction to me being gone a lot, to having less practice time, and thus less treats, or just less fun, so she’s bored.

The good news is that to my surprise she was pretty good tonight in week 7 of advanced dog obedience.  She even stayed down when I left the room during one exercise.  So I guess any fairy tale about a princess that ends on a happy note is a good story.  Right?  Now I have to go.  She wants to go out.  Again.


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Last agility class

Saturday Katie went to her last (for now) agility class.  Husband and I got to go along as well.  She wasn’t scared at all on the way, maybe because her Dad was in the car with us, or maybe because the longer driver didn’t worry her anymore.  She ran right into the building, all eager to get going.  And of course, while the instructor talked at the beginning of the class she barked at us all to HURRY UP!  This week’s obstacle was the A-frame.  Katie had never seen such a thing before and at first she didn’t want anything to do with climbing it.  Even with chicken placed up the slope!  No way!  Not going up there!  Then the instructor told me to pick her up and put her on the top.  Well!  She took one look at the chicken leading the way down the other side, and she scrambled down, gulping treats all the way.  We tried it again right away and Katie was up and over that A-frame before we even put any chicken down.  The third try was the same.  Success!  When it came time to run all the obstacles Katie just flew up and over the A-frame and through the tunnel, had no trouble with the jumps and sort of made it through the weaves, following my fingers.  But she really doesn’t like the beginning of the dog walk, and the tire is still confusing.  She balked at the chute every time, until someone held up the other end so she could see me.  But then every dog in the class balked at the chute.  And she was moving so fast when she landed on the table that she nearly slid off the other side, but she was laughing all the way.  She had a wonderful time!  Too bad it’s the last class until January.  Hopfully I’ll be able to enroll her again for more fun then.


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Working, working, working

Today was my first shift at the library job. Last Friday was my first shift at the book store job. I have to say that I like both jobs, once I get there and start working. THINKING about going out to work is a different story. On the drive to work I’m wishing I didn’t have to go, and sometimes I watch the clock when I’m there, especially at the beginning of the book store job where I was on my own on a cash register, and there was a continuous line of customers. It felt like about an hour had gone by when really it was only 15 minutes. That was stressful; it had been almost ten days since I had been trained, and at first I couldn’t remember very much! But the other employees were helpful, and eventually I sort of got in a rhythm. As long as no one asked me anything beyond wanting to buy something! The library job this afternoon was fun too, but I had the same problem of not being able to remember just how to get everything done for the patrons, or the right answers to many of their questions. But it will all work out in the end. I hope.

Today we got some pretty significant snow, about 2.5 inches. Katie LOVES snow, so before I went to work we went outside to play. Here she is asking WHY she has to sit still when there are so many snowflakes to chase and catch!

Then we ran around the yard, her chasing my feet and pant leg as well as trying to catch all the falling snow, my shoes kicking up snowballs. We had a great time!

Eventually she looked like this…

…and I had to go to work, so we went inside; she played with her inside toys and her Dad, and I went on to work to make some money to buy dogfood and more toys!

Tomorrow and Wednesday I work 8 hours each, then a day off! YEA! I know I am lucky to have work, so this Thanksgiving I”ll be giving thanks for working again. Even though sometimes I don’t want to leave my warm house and head out. Hope you all have things to be thankful for as well!



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Day 1 in agility

Katie and I went to our first agility class this morning. Katie is still wound up, she had so much fun! The day started out stresfull for me, as our power went out last night and was still off this morning. The house was cold and dark. I couldn’t find her shot record, and I didn’t have enough cash on me for the class. So we left early, stopped at the vet for a shot record and the bank for money. By this time Katie was shaking in fear in the back, because she figured out this wasn’t her normal “school” trip. She loves school and I kept assuring her we were going to school but she wasn’t buying it.

Once she arrived at school, and I carried her across a puddle filled parking lot and into the building where she found other dogs she was fine. We practiced chute a bunch, apparently that was the problem for most of the other dogs last week. Katie and I hadn’t been able to go last week because I had orientation for my new job, so we watched a few dogs try it without much success. Katie wasn’t too excited about it either the first time, till she saw me at the other end with my CHICKEN treat for her. After about 3 times she was willing to run through the chute as long as there was a little bit of daylight at the end. She really didn’t like the dogwalk, at least starting out on it, she was OK once she got going. Jumps were no problem, but she had no idea what that table thing was all about, and she totally refused to jump through the tire. Weaves were ok, she followed my chicken scented fingers, the broad jump was fun, and she likes the tunnel. She thinks. Maybe. We’ll see next week.

Now I have to go and play, she’s WAY wound up! And it’s raining outside.


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My backyard

I was mowing the yard yesterday for the last time this summer (again…what’s with this warm weather?) when I realized there was still a LOT of fall color, particularly in the shrubs and some of the newer trees. So I stopped right in the middle of the lawn and went inside for the camera. For the rest of the afternoon I mowed slower, stopped more often, and enjoyed the task more as I snapped pictures along the way. As my husband painted the house, and the dog watched from her kennel, I’m sure they were wondering what I was doing. Tonight I had a chance to look at what I shot for the first time. There were so many pretty pictures I couldn’t figure out which to show you. So I put several together below. I really think this will be the last of the fall color blogs. Maybe.

See ya,